O that, as free from deeds of sin
We shrank not from thy sight.
4 Lord, help us every hour

Thy cleansing grace to claim;
In life to glorify thy power,
In death to praise thy name.

THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE.

180

"The glory of this latter house shall be greater than

of the former."

EHOLD a humble train

BE

The courts of God draw near;

A Virgin Mother and her babe
Before the Lord appear.

2 O wondrous, blessèd sight!

To faithful eyes made known,
That lowly babe-the mighty God,
The Prince of Peace, they own.

3 And now this temple shines
With glory far more bright
Than e'er the former temple saw,
E'en at its greatest height.

4 The cloud indeed was there,
The symbol of the Lord;
But here the Lord himself appears,
The true, incarnate Word.

5 Blest Saviour, come once more
With power and grace divine;
Our hearts thy living temples make,
Wholly and ever thine.

S.M.

ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

181

66

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us."

RAISE we the Lord this day,

PRA

This day so long foretold,

Whose promise shone with cheering ray
On waiting saints of old.

2 The prophet gave the sign
For faithful men to read;
A virgin born of David's line

Shall bear the promised Seed.

3 Ask not how this should be,
But worship and adore,
Like her whom heaven's majesty
Came down to shadow o'er.

4 Meekly she bowed her head
To hear the gracious word,
Mary, the pure and lowly maid,
The favoured of the Lord.

5 Blessed shall be her name

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In all the Church on earth,

S.M.

Through whom that wondrous mercy came,
The incarnate Saviour's birth.

SAINT MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS.

"O praise the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye servants of

his that do his pleasure."

RAISE to God who reigns above,
Binding earth and heaven in love;

PRA

All the armies of the sky

Worship his dread sovereignty.

7s.

183

2 Seraphim his praises sing,
Cherubim on fourfold wing,

Thrones, Dominions, Princes, Powers,
Ranks of Might that never cowers.

3 Angel hosts his word fulfil,
Ruling nature by his will:
Round his throne archangels pour
Songs of praise for evermore.

4 Yet on man they joy to wait,
All that bright celestial state,
For true Man their Lord they see,
Christ, the incarnate Deity.

5 On the throne our Lord who died
Sits in manhood glorified,
Where his people faint below
Angels count it joy to go.

II. THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS.

"Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses."

L

O! what a cloud of witnesses

Encompass us around!

Men once like us with suffering tried,
But now with glory crown'd.

2 Let us, with zeal like theirs inspired,
Strive in the Christian race;
And, freed from every weight of sin,
Their holy footsteps trace.

3 Behold a witness nobler still,
Who trod affliction's path-

C.M.

Jesus, the Author, Finisher,
Rewarder of our faith:

4 He, for the joy before him set,
And moved by pitying love,
Endured the cross, despised the shame,
And now he reigns above.

5 Thither, forgetting things behind,
Press we to God's right hand;
There, with the Saviour and his saints,
Triumphantly to stand.

184

N

"He hath prepared for them a city."

OT to the terrors of the Lord,
The tempest, fire, and smoke:
Not to the thunder of that word.
Which God on Sinai spoke:

2 But we are come to Sion's hill,
The city of our God;
Where milder words declare his will,
And spread his love abroad.

3 Behold th' innumerable host
Of angels clothed in light:
Behold the spirits of the just,
Whose faith is changed to sight.
4 Behold the bless'd assembly there
Whose names are writ in heaven;
Hear God, the Judge of all, declare
Their sins, through Christ, forgiven.
5 Angels, and living saints and dead,
But one communion make:

All join in Christ, their living Head,
And of his love partake.

C.M.

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66

Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is, brethren,
to dwell together in unity."

HOW

From the cxxxiii. Psalm.

OW vast must their advantage be,
How great their pleasure prove,
Who live like brethren, and consent
In offices of love!

2 True love is like the precious oil,
Which, poured on Aaron's head,
Ran down his beard, and o'er his robes
Its costly fragrance shed.

3 'Tis like refreshing dew, which does
On Hermon's top distil;
Or like the early drops that fall
On Sion's favour'd hill.

4 For Sion is the chosen seat

Where the Almighty King

The promis'd blessing has ordain'd,
And life's eternal spring.

C.M.

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"Their sound went into all the earth, and their words:
unto the ends of the world."

FOR

OR the Apostles' glorious company,
Who, bearing forth the cross o'er land and
sea,

Shook all the mighty world, we sing to thee,

Alleluia !

2 For the Evangelists, by whose blest word, Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord Is fair and fruitful, be thy name adored.

Alleluia !

P.M.